Saturday, May 8, 2010

Do not fear, only believe- 5:35-40

While all this is going on, some people come from Jairus's house to tell him his daughter is dead, so why worry the teacher any more- but Jesus overhears this interaction and says- 'Do not fear, only believe'. I'm sure Jairus' anxiety levels have been high throughout the day- and receiving the news your daughter had died would only heighten this- What do you do with a statement like that from Jesus? Did he just keep on with him- well we'll see this through- or was there some hope at that reply. Its a sentiment that Jesus seems to express often- Do not fear, only believe- and when the disciples are afraid in a force 10 storm- he rebukes them in similar words.

And at this point, somehow Jesus stops the 'Jesus show spectacle', and goes on with just Peter, James and John, and Jairus. How did he do this? There is this strong public property effect that mostly Jesus welcomes or allows- He takes the disciples away to be alone for some recuperation time, sees the crowd coming has compassion on them and allows them to intrude- But here is a boundary for Jairus and his families sake. This is not a sideshow alley act. I imagine he said it with sternness- and that that authority that the people picked up on when first hearing Jesus was in operation here. - A force of character to sway a crowd.
Again when he reaches Jairus's house and is met by a whole lot of mourners- after them laughing at him for telling them she is not dead only sleeping so why weep?- “then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.”
Sounds very much like he took command of the situation once Jairus had asked his help- Doesn't seem to ask Jairus to move his extended family members and mourners out of the room- does it himself- and gives the family space. He tells them she is sleeping (when he knows she's not) is this to try and combat the sensational factor? He 'strictly orders' the family that no one should know this. I wonder what the motive is- there were too many people involved to keep it a secret- Jesus often is downplaying what he does in a sense- going for understatement- but his actions are speaking louder than his admonitions.

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